IPCC Report: Act now or face dramatic climate consequences by 2030

The world's leading climate scientists just pushed the alarm button.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report includes sobering warning language. If we don't act to cut earth's greenhouse gas emissions by 45-percent by 2030, climate consequences will begin to cascade in as few as 12 years.

Why half a degree matters

Earth's global temperature has already risen about 1-degree C (1.8 degrees F) from pre-industrial times. This latest IPCC report highlights the difference in climate impacts between a global temperature rise of 1.5-degrees C and 2-degrees C.  At our current rate of emissions, the earth will likely reach the 1.5-degree C warming threshold in as soon as 12 years.

Here's a good take on why half a degree C can make a difference.

Rethinking our global emissions

Dramatic GHG emission reductions will be needed in the next 5-10 years to stave off the riskiest climate impacts.

If there's an optimistic way to read the report it might be this. The changes we need to make are daunting but doable. And getting even part of the way there can reap huge economic and societal benefits.

The economic opportunities from a growth in climate solutions-related technology and jobs boom are already evident. The risk of trillions of dollars in coastal real estate and infrastructure looms if changes are not made. The economic shock waves from the next superstorm surge on higher sea levels are growing. Climate change is already forcing the insurance industry to recalculate catastrophic risk models.

I'll have more coverage on this latest report with perspective from local climate scientists Thursday at 4:20 pm on Climate Cast.